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This biography takes the reader from Betjeman’s troubled childhood in north London, through his blossoming at Oxford; a gay fling with W. H. Auden; a clandestine marriage to a field marshal’s daughter; pranks as a film critic; wartime service and probable espionage in Ireland, to the glory days of his later years when his Collected Poems became a runaway bestseller. This book is a distillation of Bevis Hillier’s three-volume biography, authorized by Betjeman himself.
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Reviews
'[Hillier] has unearthed a wealth of detail and anecdote.'
'This user-friendly trade paperback... will be welcomed as a crucial reference work by students and aficionados alike'
Hillier's enthralling, many-voiced biography is an awesome achievement. But it is no more than Betjeman's due
Fascinating
Sharply perceptive ... compelling ... A biography this good abolishes time in its own way, and triumphantly ensures Betjeman's survival
A mosaic in which the true face of the man and his times is revealed
The chubbiest, juiciest book of the year
Strikes just the right note.
An awe-inspiring piece of scholarship ... Betjeman has had the best and most sympathetic biographer he could have wished for
A triumph
Hilarious and very poignant
A mosaic in which the true face of the man and his time is revealed
A pleasure to read and use.
Immensely detailed, intelligent, generous, sympathetic, and often entertaining
'[Hillier] has unearthed a wealth of detail and anecdote'
'A fine portrait of a vulnerable, acerbic man with a teddy.'
'John Betjeman remains extremely popular'
'A stupendous work in many ways'
'Bevis Hillier's fine biography joins the jubilations'
'Where anyone interested in Betjeman will dig happily away'
'Hillier's [biography] has a wealth of often-hilarious detail that Wilson never touches on'